The Obama Administration responded furiously last night amid a growing storm
at the disclosure that US intelligence agencies had been monitoring millions
of Americans’ telephone records and internet use.

Officials claimed that the leaks concerning the covert surveillance
operations threatened national security.

The National Security Agency (NSA) and the FBI have for years been tapping
directly into the servers of nine leading internet companies, extracting
audio, video, photographs, e-mails, documents and connection logs, it
emerged last night. The data obtained can reveal the users’ contacts as well
as their location.

According to The Washington Post, the intelligence agencies have direct